Community Education that we offer

Programs that are offered

La Raza provides a safe, confidential, bilingual space for members of the Latino community to ask questions and explain their issues free of fear. Our Community Education programs are run by bilingual, volunteer teachers, offering citizenship classes, ESL classes, interview preparation, and other support.

Our Programs

Citizenship classes

Our citizenship class operates on a drop-in basis, although most students come regularly every week. The course material is taught in cyclical fashion: students review the same material multiple times, approaching it through different instructional activities. For example, when studying history and civics, one week students might discuss the questions in a circle, led by the teacher; the next week they may be filling out a worksheet; then, the next week, they might be playing a game based on the same questions. The activities are structured so that new students who are less familiar with the material can receive help from their more advanced classmates.

ESL Classes

A large number of the families we serve have very limited English skills, which makes passing the naturalization interview, and becoming a citizen, an order of great magnitude. We offer a beginner-level ESL class every Tuesday at 10:00am designed to help our clients improve their language skills. Although the class focuses on the fundamentals of English, the teacher is aware of the naturalization interview requirements and plans their instruction with that in mind. Students preparing for citizenship have priority, but other students are also allowed into the class if space permits.

Community Forums

La Raza sponsors forums that are important to the community, such as immigration law, health and wellness, nutrition classes on diet and exercise, banking, and finance. Each year Kaiser Permanente comes to La Raza to lead a series of talks on healthy living.